The Met’s top cop has said his officers can only enforce the law and not “taste and decency” after outrage over a ‘jihad’ chant recorded during the massive pro-Palestine rally in London.
Sir Mark Rowley added the “lines of law” which his officers follow may not be “quite in the right place” but that it was up to Parliament to decide were those lines to decide where those ‘lines were drawn’.
More than 100,000 demonstrators took to London’s streets on Saturday calling for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas sparked by the terror attacks on October 7.
Placards depicting Israeli, British and American politicians as ‘war criminals’ and calling for a ‘free Palestine’ were on display in a largely peaceful march into Whitehall.
But fringe elements were also heard singing the controversial ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ chant, which effectively calls for an end to Israel. Video also emerged of protesters near the Egyptian Embassy calling for ‘Muslim Armies’ to free Palestine by attacking Israeli forces.
In one smaller filmed gathering a man standing to the side of a speaker, but neither on a platform nor speaking into the microphone, can then be heard chanting words including “jihad”, as can some others attending the protest.
The word can mean struggle or effort, but it has also been taken to refer to holy war.
The Met said that specialist Crown Prosecution Service lawyers had agreed no offence could be identified in the footage from the protest, which was held by the Hizb ut-Tahrir group.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman met Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark today, where she had been expected to ask officers to use “the full force of the law”.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sir Mark said police could only enforce the law and not “taste and decency”.
He said: “We are absolutely ruthless in tackling anybody who puts their foot over the legal line. We’re accountable for the law. We can’t enforce taste or decency, but we can enforce the law.
“The conversation finished really around the line of the law. It’s our job to enforce to that line. It’s Parliament’s job to draw that line. And the thought that maybe events at the moment, maybe some of the lines aren’t quite in the right place.”
Sir Mark went on: “The law that we’ve designed around hate crime and terrorism over recent decades hasn’t taken full account of the ability in extremist groups to steer around those laws and propagating the truly toxic messages through social media.
“Those lines probably need redrawing.”
Downing Street indicated that there were no plans to change the law, despite concern over footage from the demonstration by the Hizb ut-Tahrir fundamentalist group, which was separate to the main rally. Numerous ministers had expressed concern about some of the scenes over the weekend.
Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said chanting the word jihad on the streets of the capital is “inciting terrorist violence”, while Cabinet colleague Mark Harper said the footage from the weekend was “disturbing”.
But Number 10 signalled that there were no current plans to give the Met more powers.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Some of these scenes will have likely been incredibly distressing for people to witness, not least to the UK’s Jewish community who deserve to feel safe at what must be an incredibly traumatic time. We will continue to discuss with the police about what more can be done but they do have a number of powers available to them.
“We do believe the police have extensive powers in this space and we will continue to discuss with them so there is clarity and agreement about how they can be deployed on the ground.”
Jewish safety organisation the Community Security Trust criticised the Met, saying that “in trying to communicate complex and nuanced legal issues” on social media “they gave the impression of legitimising obnoxious and hateful behaviour that may or may not be criminal but nevertheless causes profound concern to British Jews and many other people”.
